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Plans for reforming asylum accommodation system need to work - quickly

Plans commit to providing 14,000 State-owned beds for asylum seekers by end of 2028 as part of scheme to make 35,000 beds available

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman stood in Government Buildings on Wednesday, flanked by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Minister for Education Norma Foley, to present his department’s revised plan to rescue the State’s international protection accommodation system. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times

Sorcha Pollak's face
Sorcha Pollak
Wed Mar 27 2024 - 20:22

In February 2021, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman stood before a group of socially distanced journalists and laid out his White Paper plans for ending direct provision.

Three years later, as the Ukrainian migrant crisis continues to unfold, O’Gorman stood in Government Buildings on Wednesday, flanked by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Minister for Education Norma Foley, to present his department’s revised plan to rescue the State’s rapidly imploding international protection accommodation system.

The plan commits to providing 14,000 State-owned beds for asylum seekers by the end of 2028, as part of a wider plan to make 35,000 beds available.

The proposed “blended model” also consists of 10,000 commercially run emergency accommodation beds and another 11,000 contingency accommodation beds.

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This reliance on commercial accommodation, a model that civil society groups have repeatedly said must end, will continue to be a feature in the “short to medium term”.

[ State to provide 14,000 new beds for asylum seekers through turnkey properties, empty offices and rapid-builds ]

[ Surge in prosecutions of asylum seekers arriving without passports ]

However, the strategy does acknowledge the urgent need to move away from the “wholly reactive response” which has come to define the international protection housing system.

O’Gorman’s “comprehensive accommodation strategy for international protection applicants” is ambitious and wide-ranging. It commits to rebuilding public confidence in the asylum accommodation system and distributing housing across the State in a fair, equal and transparent way.

Combined with McEntee’s announcement that Ireland will opt in to the EU’s Asylum and Migration pact, it appears the Government has finally agreed on a coherent response plan to the rising numbers of people seeking asylum in this country.

If O’Gorman’s strategy works, it could offer a much-needed panacea to rising tensions about immigration in many areas.

The strategy is based on the assumption that up to 16,000 people will arrive on average per year between 2024 and 2028 seeking asylum, while people with legal status to remain will be able to move on from their accommodation and find private housing.

[ Ireland needs to move beyond ‘emergency response’ to immigration, Harris says as ‘community feels they’re not heard’ ]

Department of Integration officials acknowledge that asylum arrivals will continue to rise over the coming 18 months. But it is hoped these numbers will level out once more streamlined processing times, which are set to be implemented as part of the EU pact, come into effect.

The pact focuses on tackling the secondary movement of asylum seekers, where a person moves from the first European country they enter to another, and applies for asylum.

At present, an estimated 50 to 70 per cent of international asylum seekers arriving in Ireland have travelled from another European country.

The pact’s border procedure will also aim to have asylum decisions made within 12 weeks regarding people who irregularly cross an EU border without documentation or through using false documentation, or who come from so-called “safe countries”.

Decisions on those who arrive in the State having already secured asylum in another European country will be made within two months. Those fleeing war, conflict or persecution will receive a decision on their case within six months, according to Department of Justice officials.

It currently takes an average of 19 months for these decisions to be made.

New plans for reforming the asylum accommodation system depend heavily on capital funding. O’Gorman says he expects to receive €74 million this year, with another €140 million next year and €180 million in 2026. Some of this will be used to purchase and redevelop empty office spaces, which department officials say is an “untapped resource”.

[ Long-awaited immigration plan will commit to avoiding use of ‘last hotel’ in a town for asylum seekers ]

However, the EU pact does not come into effect until 2026, and Department of Integration officials admit they cannot suddenly produce housing for those living in tents.

Plans to lease two locations from the HSE are in train, along with a site from the Department of Justice, while some developers have expressed “significant interest” in plans to convert empty office buildings into housing, say officials.

A commitment has also been made to end the reliance on the “last hotel” or the last amenity available in a village or town, and to target larger, urban locations.

But the reality is, if these plans do not work – and quickly – women and children may be forced to sleep in tents within a matter of weeks.

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